Many people are finding it desirable to carry food with them as they travel. This situation has long existed in connection with picnics, lunches and the like, and has engendered a plethora of designs for picnic baskets, lunch boxes and the like. However, as more and more people travel, there is a need for food containers that can be used on trips and while traveling. The just-mentioned picnic baskets and lunch boxes while satisfactory for some uses, have drawbacks which inhibit their use in conjunction with travel, expecially long transit times.
Principal among such drawbacks is the limited ability of such food containers to keep food cold during long trips. While such containers are generally insulated and can include places for ice packs or the like, such measures are of limited effectiveness, expecially if the food must be stored for several days or even weeks.
Therefore, the art has included designs for portable refrigeration units. While such units are more effective than the above-described picnic baskets or lunch boxes, these units also have several drawbacks. For example, these units often are of limited effectiveness under certain conditions. Another problem is the possibility of having a rather severe thermal gradient established within the container whereby one section of the container is quite cold while another section is considerably warmer. Proper food storage requires, not only cold conditions, but uniform temperature in the container.
Accordingly, there is a need for a food storage container which can maintain a proper environment for storing food for great lengths of time, and under varied conditions, and which provides a uniform temperature for the environment within the container.